WASHINGTON — This was the nightmare Devils general manager Lou Lamoriello must have feared when he decided to start the season with a 20-man roster because of salary-cap problems.

The Devils lost defenseman Anton Volchenkov with a broken nose and winger Brian Rolston with a lower back injury tonight, and it remains to be seen whether either will be able to play in Monday afternoon’s home game against the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Winger P.L. Letourneau-Leblond is subject to an automatic one-game suspension for instigating a fight in the final five minutes of tonight’s game. Although there will be a review, it seems unlikely he’ll get leniency since he slashed Marcus Johansson.

Regardless, the Devils will be facing a manpower crisis.

They are already facing a different kind of crisis in the wake of a fight-filled 7-2 rout at the hands and fists of the Washington Capitals.

The seven goals are the most allowed by the Devils since a 7-3 loss to the Islanders at Nassau Coliseum on March 7, 2009. They did not allow more than five goals in a game all of last season.

“It’s disappointing. We have some work to do,” coach John MacLean said. “It’s our responsibility to get it straightened out.”

Alex Ovechkin scored two goals, including one on a second-period penalty shot, as the Devils saw their record fall to 0-1-1. Goalie Martin Brodeur was pulled after two periods, having allowed five goals on 20 shots.

“You get five goals scored on you, you can’t be happy about that,” Brodeur said. “They got some lucky breaks, but they created their lucky breaks. Got to give them credit. They played real hard and went to the net real hard. We played well for the most part of the first two periods. Then we shot ourselves in the foot and kept on shooting.”

Right now Lamoriello may have the toughest job of all as he determines whether the team will have enough healthy players to face the Penguins.

Leblond instigated the fifth fight of the game with 4:07 remaining in the third period after slashing Johansson. Under rule 46.22, he must serve an automatic one-game suspension while MacLean is fined $10,000.

Rolston was injured in the second period. After two shifts in the third, he couldn’t continue and doesn’t know about his availability Monday.

“I don’t want to get into it. I’ll be fine,” Rolston said.

Asked about Monday, he said: “We’ll see. If you can play, you can play. Is there pressure to play? No one puts any pressure on you to play.”

Volchenkov was struck just below the nose by a Nicklas Backstrom shot at 18:27 of the opening period. Backstrom’s slap shot just eluded a crossing Ovechkin and drove Volchenkov’s visor into his nose.

The force of the visor broke Volchenkov’s nose and the gash under the nose required eight stitches both inside and out. Ovechkin said he did not tip the shot.

“I remember it hitting my mask. It was so quick,” Volchenkov said. “It was a pretty hard shot. I was lucky I had a visor. No visor and there would’ve been serious damage.”

But can he play Monday?

“It’s possible, yeah,” he said. “I’ll see how I feel (Sunday).”

Although the Devils still had six defensemen, they fell apart in the second period as Volchenkov remained in the dressing room and the Caps scored four unanswered goals.

Ovechkin’s first came at 14:31, giving the Caps a 3-2 lead when he bounced one past Brodeur. His second came on a penalty shot with 47.7 seconds left.

Hedberg came in and allowed the final two goals on nine shots in the third period.
Rich Chere: rchere@starledger.com